nah, I don't think so. 17 too late for that. it ain't gonna happen. Nole will slow down. He made some really bad decisions during 2009/10, changing racquets, trying to change his service motion etc. IMHO, he should have around 9 slams atm, but again 2009/10 ... he was kinda lost

that is 11 all of a sudden and he will be just 27. who can slow him down except himself?

like I said nadal doesn't really want to fight anymore. all I have ever heard from him is lip service and no action since the end of 2010. in fact he said all year long in 2011 that he felt like he was worn out from tennis and that he felt like he had been playing tennis "for 100 years".

When he injured his ankle for a moment it looked like he might be out for indefinite time, i.e. not even playing let alone winning anything. This is all putting the cart before the horse. The road ahead of him definitely looks much brighter now than in 2009 or early 2010, but that's it. He may play until he's 35/36 or retire before he's 30, we might as well throw dice on that.

that is 11 all of a sudden and he will be just 27. who can slow him down except himself?

like I said nadal doesn't really want to fight anymore. all I have ever heard from him is lip service and no action since the end of 2010. in fact he said all year long in 2011 that he felt like he was worn out from tennis and that he felt like he had been playing tennis "for 100 years".

so he refuses to improve his game or his fitness.

the jury is out on murray and roger will be 32 this year.

CD, again again it's possible but a big IF. I hope Fed fans don't jump but the thing is Fed won most of his slams beating a bunch of inferior players. His only real rival was Nadal. btw, I'm not taking anything away from Fed. He played whoever was on the other side of the net.

I don't know how many majors will Nole end up with at the end of his career but I'm really proud that he'd done all of this so far with Fed, Rafa and Murray around.

Until I see a real threat from anyone outside the top 3, I'll say Djokovic can surpass 11. Let's be realistic, Djokovic is 26 now. Add 2 more years of dominance means he has a max of 8 slams to win from. Assume he wins 2 each year, thats 4 + 6(already) = 10 . . .If I'm to take a wild shot, I'd say he'll get 13 slams . . .

I don't think he'll get to 17. He's amazing, but he can't constantly dominate Murray and Nadal. Both of those players will 'steal' (in Nadal's case, I wouldn't even call it stealing) enough slams to keep Djoker from getting to 17.

As far as Nadal refusing to improve his game and fitness?! Really? As far as his fitness, he doesn't NEED to improve it. He's already as fit or more fit than any other player on tour. As far as his game, he's done nothing BUT try to improve it his entire career. We CONSTANTLY see adjustments to his game. Look at the player he was when he first arrived on tour, and the player he is now. They're practically different people. And even now, he's still trying to tweak his game. He's more aggressive now than he was a year or two ago, he's probably made the most conscious change to his preparation to stay within the newly enforced time limit (despite his hatred of the rule), and he pushes his opponents around more now to open up the court because he's trying to end points faster.

I don't think he'll get to 17. He's amazing, but he can't constantly dominate Murray and Nadal. Both of those players will 'steal' (in Nadal's case, I wouldn't even call it stealing) enough slams to keep Djoker from getting to 17.

As far as Nadal refusing to improve his game and fitness?! Really? As far as his fitness, he doesn't NEED to improve it. He's already as fit or more fit than any other player on tour. As far as his game, he's done nothing BUT try to improve it his entire career. We CONSTANTLY see adjustments to his game. Look at the player he was when he first arrived on tour, and the player he is now. They're practically different people. And even now, he's still trying to tweak his game. He's more aggressive now than he was a year or two ago, he's probably made the most conscious change to his preparation to stay within the newly enforced time limit (despite his hatred of the rule), and he pushes his opponents around more now to open up the court because he's trying to end points faster.

No small feat. Am sure that disrupts his rhythm to some degree.Kudos to him!

LOL - Nole wins Monte Carlo and all of a sudden he's a big threat to Roger's record? Come on now.

it's called a 'knee jerk reaction'. it's all over other tennis boards and the internet. however anything is possible if you believe. yeah I feel I need to believe, just not sure how. could somebody teach me ?

where the hell does it say that this thread has anything to do with monte carlo?

nole is good on clay but he is not that good. its just that nadal is pathetic at the moment.

I am not giving nole the RG this year because it is not going to happen. more than likely nadal will find a way to get into the final there and then make it happen. we have always known that nadal is vulnerable in the best of 3 sets foremats. also did anybody expect nadal to win 10 straight monte carlo titles? or even 9? I did not. I knew he was going to lose this one. nole was prepared and focused while nadal was not. so he paid the price.

a little help is always welcome from nadal`s own standpoint at RG. I am sure he would like somebody to push nole to 5 sets in the semis there.

anyway nole is going to be able to make his maximum headway on the hard courts. there are no less than 2 hard court slams a year on the hard courts.

can you imagine how many slams nadal would be sitting on had there been 2 clay slams a year?

so nole has the great advantage. he can really rack them up on the quicker courts in the next 3-4 years.

I don't think he'll rack up to 17 though. That's 11. If we assume he can even get 2 RGs, which is generous, there's still 9 to go. An average of 3 of each. And that's just really difficult. How he plays, it's a wonder he hasn't murdered an ankle or ACL at this point. It's very possible that might happen at some point, sliding all over the hard courts and doing the splits like that all the time. And Murray is good on the three non-clay slams. He's gonna take a few of them. And it's ridiculous to say that Nadal won't win anything besides RG, so there's some to him as well. I just don't think Djoker can dominate the others enough to win 11 slams over the next 4 or 5 years, even if he doesn't ever get injured.

I don't think he'll rack up to 17 though. That's 11. If we assume he can even get 2 RGs, which is generous, there's still 9 to go. An average of 3 of each. And that's just really difficult. How he plays, it's a wonder he hasn't murdered an ankle or ACL at this point. It's very possible that might happen at some point, sliding all over the hard courts and doing the splits like that all the time. And Murray is good on the three non-clay slams. He's gonna take a few of them. And it's ridiculous to say that Nadal won't win anything besides RG, so there's some to him as well. I just don't think Djoker can dominate the others enough to win 11 slams over the next 4 or 5 years, even if he doesn't ever get injured.

11 slams is what Nadal has done his whole career, that should give some perspective.

But he may be able to get 2 per year, that would be over five years too.

But 2 a year would still be difficult. Nadal is only a year older, and will almost certainly take RG every year. Then there's Murray, who's a big threat to him on the other three. And Nadal is obviously always a threat as well. So getting 2 every year for 5 years, especially as he gets older and has the threat of injury, would be pretty amazing.

But 2 a year would still be difficult. Nadal is only a year older, and will almost certainly take RG every year. Then there's Murray, who's a big threat to him on the other three. And Nadal is obviously always a threat as well. So getting 2 every year for 5 years, especially as he gets older and has the threat of injury, would be pretty amazing.

"Every year" meaning...? How long do you think Nadal will continue to win RG? I suppose in 1981 people though Borg would win 10 times, but that stopped suddenly. Nadal could lose motivation too.